culture of science

Category archives for culture of science

Predatory open access journals seem to be a hot topic these days. In fact, there seems to be kind of a moral panic surrounding them. I would like to counter the admittedly shocking and scary stories around that moral panic by pointing out that perhaps we shouldn’t be worrying so much about a fairly small…

Here’s a bunch of graphic novels I’ve read in the last while that are well worth your time reading and acquiring for your library! Abadzis, Nick. Laika. New York: First Second, 2007. 208pp. ISBN-13: 978-1596431010 Laika by Nick Abadzis in a fantastic graphic novel recounting the life of the first dog in space, the Russian…

Finally, the Canadian government’s Tri-Agency funding councils (SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR) have released the consolidated final version of it’s open access policy. The draft version came out some time ago. The consultation process garnered quite a few responses, which the Tri-Agencies were kind enough to summarize for us. And finally it is here. I have to…

As I mentioned last week, I did a presentation at the recent Ontario Library Association Super Conference using my work on Canadian science policy as a case study in altmetrics. Here’s the session description: 802F Altmetrics in Action: Documenting Cuts to Federal Government Science: An Altmetrics Case Study The gold standard for measuring scholarly impact…

The default mode, politically-speaking, for most scientists seems to be professionally neutral. In other words, most scientists would tend to see their personal political beliefs as more or less completely separate from their work as scientists. Even for politically sensitive topics like climate change, the tendency is to focus on the the best available evidence…

On May 20th, 2013 I published my most popular post ever. It was The Canadian War on Science: A long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological indictment. In it, I chronicled at some considerable length the various anti-science measures by the current Canadian Conservative government. The chronological aspect was particularly interesting as you could see the ramping up…

I’m doing a presentation at this week’s Ontario Library Association Super Conference on a case study of my Canadian War on Science work from an altmetrics perspective. In other words, looking at non-traditional ways of evaluating the scholarly and “real world” impact of a piece of research. Of course, in this case, the research output…

Science Advice: Cultivating the necessary functions in Canada A rough guide to science advice Principles and politics of scientific advice What do policymakers want from academics? Tips for Academics Who Want to Engage Policymakers Top 20 things scientists need to know about policy-making Top 20 things politicians need to know about science 12 things policy-makers…

Yes, it has become a trilogy. The two Twitter rants I recapped here sparked more angst and anguish in me, prompting me to write a third rant. As it became ready for Twitter publication and approached 800 words, it also became clear that this particular rant was fast outgrowing what I could reasonably expect people…